Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to railway cars and more particularly relates to light weight railway cars each including a plurality of articulated car units coupled to end car units with each car unit capable of carrying a stack of containers.
Due to the increased cost of locomotive fuel and the increased use of large shipping containers for transporting commodities long distances by rail, container supporting flat cars and some articulating cars are now being used by railroads. Heretofore most cars could not carry a stack of containers because low bridges along their routes would not provide adequate clearance for a stack of containers. The stack supporting container car of the present invention can be designed to handle many common container sizes such as: 40' long.times.9'-6" high; 45' long.times.9'-6" high; and 40' long.times.8' high. All containers are about 8 feet in width and when loaded may weight about 40,000-70,000 pounds.